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The past comes back to bite.

Sue had organised for the people from Child Services to meet with them at 9:30.

"Do I have time to drop in on Emily before we see them?" Marissa asked.

"Sure. I've actually organised for the use of a small meeting room on Emily's floor for you. So Child Services will meet you there. I'll come up with you now. We'll drop past Emily's room and then I'll take you to the meeting room and stay with you until they arrive so that I can introduce you. But then you will be on your own. Their interview will probably take about an hour or so and I have organised for you to meet with the hospital's Child Psychologist after that. I hope your okay with that? She rang me this morning and asked if she could meet with you and I think it's a good idea. Emily has been through a lot and Charlotte may be able to give you some strategies to help you cope with her. It's not going to be easy, so I figured that any ideas she might have that could help, you'd be happy to listen to." Sue informed them.

Marissa looked at Ryan and shrugged. "Sounds good to me. We'd be the first to admit that we have absolutely no experience in looking after small children especially ones that have been through what Emily has."

"Okay. Why don't you just give me a call when you have finished with Child Services and I'll track her down and get her to come and see you? That way you don't need to be wandering around the hospital and you'll have less chance of running into one of your 'friends' from downstairs. I see that you have already met Keith. He's available to help you out whenever you need it, especially when you are arriving and leaving the hospital. If you stick to just Emily's floor you shouldn't have too many problems moving around. The staff there have all been briefed." Sue suggested. "And then, I hope its okay, but after lunch I have organised for you to meet the realtor who Cheryl and her husband rent their house from. She'll meet you at their house and let you in. I thought you might like to pick up some of Emily's things; some of her clothes and favourite toys. It may help her settle with you a little easier if she has familiar things around her. She probably has a favourite doll or teddy."

"That's a great idea." Marissa replied and then looked at Sue. "Thank you. I don't know what we would have done without you."

"Well don't worry the feelings mutual. If you hadn't come forward then I would have been trying to place Emily in a foster home. And in all honesty … most of the foster parents I know have their hands full at the moment. I can't think of any of them that would have been prepared to take on someone like Emily. But come on we'd better get out of here or you'll barely be able to say hi to her before your meeting." Sue added.

---

By 11 am Ryan and Marissa felt like they'd been through the third degree. Child Services had been really thorough and tough. Apparently because of the fact that they weren't related to Emily and in fact, barely knew her … plus the fact that they had no experience with children at all … and that they weren't married or even in a de facto relationship of any degree of standing all were going to make this seemingly 'easy process' more difficult. The two representatives from Child Services really were very non committal about what they thought their chances were of getting the court to approve their appointment as temporary guardians. It wasn't looking good.

After the Child Services officers had left Ryan called Sue who said the Child Psychologist was with her but that she would come straight up. Sue said to just sit tight and she would be with them within a few minutes. He looked at Marissa who was obviously feeling much the same as him.

"What do you think are our chances?" Marissa asked.

"I really don't know. I'm sure that Sue will put in a good word for us. We'll just have to wait and see. But they did say that they would work on their recommendations this afternoon and that it won't go before the court until tomorrow morning. So I guess where here for another night at least. How do you think Emily will go with that? She seemed to be looking forward to getting out of here when we spoke to her earlier."

"I know." Marissa replied. "I'll go and break it to her as soon as we've finished with the psychologist. I figure the sooner the better. She'll be disappointed but as long as it really happens. You don't think that they would actually decide that she couldn't come with us do you?"

"I don't know. This isn't something that I have any experience in. I might give Sandy a call later and just see what he thinks." Ryan replied.

Just then an attractive brunette about their age walked into the room. She introduced herself as Charlotte Robinson the child psychologist assigned to Emily's case. She kept looking at Ryan. And Marissa was a little uncomfortable with Charlotte's obvious fascination with him. Marissa knew he was a good looking guy. Actually, she knew he was sexy as hell. But part of Ryan's attraction was the fact that he was completely unaware of it. But it was fairly obvious that Charlotte had noticed. Marissa was starting to feel jealous of the looks she was giving him even though Ryan was being so adorably and totally clueless about it. After a very short discussion of where she felt Emily was at, she recommended that since they had no experience with parenting that she would give them copies of some of the information that she had in her office and that they should read through them and then later they could ask her questions. Ryan and Marissa were happy for any assistance but Marissa was anxious about getting back to Emily. It was now after noon and she knew that she had promised to be back to help her with her lunch as she was having trouble feeding herself with her left hand.

"Why don't you go back to Emily now?" Charlotte suggested to Marissa. "Ryan can come with me to my office to pick up the handouts and then he can meet you back at Emily's room."

Marissa looked at Ryan. "Sounds fine?" she commented waiting to get a reaction from him.

"Sure." He shrugged. "I'll see you back at Emily's room, shortly."

"Maybe not too shortly." Charlotte said. "I may have to go and copy some of the information if I don't have spares. So don't bother sending out the search party if he's a little longer than expected." She said to Marissa.

Marissa looked at Charlotte. Something about her seemed a little off. She didn't know what it was but Ryan was a big boy she knew he could look after himself.

---

Ryan followed Charlotte to her office and when they got there, she opened the door and stood aside to let him in first and then followed him inside. "Just take a seat." She said. Ryan moved to the visitors chair in front of the desk and sat down. Charlotte then closed the door and locked it.

"Um. Why did you lock the door?" Ryan asked.

"I don't want to be disturbed." Charlotte replied a smile on her face that was more of a smirk and it was making Ryan feel very uncomfortable. She moved to stand in front of Ryan leaning her rear on the edge of the desk. "You don't remember me, do you?" Charlotte asked.

"Ah, I'm sorry. No." Ryan replied. "Should I?"

"Well, I guess I should be offended. But you had been drinking a lot. Which actually only makes your performance that night even more remarkable." She replied.

"I think you must have me mixed up with someone else." Ryan replied.

"Oh No. It was you. Berkeley? Final year? Hell Ryan … you may not remember me but I sure as hell remember you. It was like winning the lottery to be your 'chosen one' for a night. Come on. Up until then, I'd heard the term 'fucking someone's brains out' but I'd never thought it was actually possible. You proved me wrong. My brains were certainly scrambled by the time you'd finished with me."

Ryan started to feel sick. When he'd returned to college that year, after believing that Marissa had left him for greener pastures, Ryan had drunk a lot and slept around a lot. He wasn't proud of it now. But at the time it was his way of coping. He didn't know why Charlotte would bring this up. Surely it should be as embarrassing to her as it was to him. "I hope I didn't hurt you?" Ryan asked.

Charlotte gave a small snigger. "If you mean 'hurt' in the physical sense then no. Hell. It was amazing, wonderful. I didn't know that you could get a high from sex that was better than any drug known to man. I couldn't get enough of you. Almost too wonderful if that is even possible. But "hurt' in the emotional sense then …" she looked up at him and nodded. "yeah and I've still got the scars to prove it."

"I'm sorry I don't understand." Ryan said.

"I've spent years now sleeping around trying to find someone … anyone that can come even close to you in the sack. You see it's become a bit of a quest of mine. I don't even care how old they are or what they look like anymore. I started out with the good looking ones, but when I realised they weren't any good in bed, I became less fussy." Charlotte explained. "Now as long as they have something between their legs, I'll give them a try."

Ryan started to get up from his seat. "I really don't feel comfortable talking about this."

"Sit down!" Charlotte said and pushed him back into the chair. "And listen very carefully to the proposition I have for you."

Ryan sat back down, wondering where all this was going. "What proposition?"

"It's really very simple. I'm prepared to do something for you … if you do something for me." she said.

Ryan said nothing but waited for her to explain herself more.

"I know that you are going to struggle to get appointed temporary guardians of Emily. You have too many things going against you. However, if I was to write a recommendation as her psychologist suggesting that it was the best thing for the child then I could almost guarantee that it would fly through in no time. Without that letter of recommendation, you're in deep shit." She suggested.

Ryan was almost afraid to ask, but he knew just what that letter would mean to them, so he had to. "And what do I have to do for you in return?" he asked.

"Well really you win out of that as well." Charlotte replied. "Because it should be enjoyable for you too. All I want is another session like the last one. You gave me a taste of something back then and I want a another taste. You see, I figure that you really can't be as good as I remember. I'm sure I've just embellished it in my memory and that if I go back and find out what you're really like then I'll be able to finally put all this behind me and move on."

"You've got to be joking?" Ryan said and started to move towards the door. "I'm with Marissa now."

"I couldn't care less who you're with. I'm not looking for a relationship. I just want a fuck. And a good one." Charlotte stated.

Charlotte stood between him and the door staring him in the eyes.

"NO WAY." Ryan said sternly, glaring back at her.

"Think about it. If you really want that little girl then I don't think you have much choice. And …" she grinned menacingly and added. "I'll also promise not to tell your sweet girlfriend just what you were like at college. I'm sure she'd love me to tell her about your exploits. We may even start a little fan club together of women that have been shagged by Ryan Atwood. Do you think she'd go for that? We could compare notes about how many different ways you can do it ? Maybe start a poll on what our favourites are?"

Ryan stepped around her and moved to the door.

"You can tell me your answer in the morning … But we both know that you don't have a choice. If you sleep with me … and let me assure you there will be no sleeping … then you should have no problem getting approved as guardians. But if you don't … then you break you girlfriend's heart." She shrugged. "Either by not getting Emily or by Marissa finding out exactly what you're like. I'm sure one of those will do it. So if you really do care for her then what choice do you have?" Charlotte said and turned to unlock and open the door. "I'll see you first thing in the morning." she grinned. "I'll make sure I don't wear underwear… just in case we're pushed for time." She added at Ryan as he walked out the door and back down the hallway.